16 June 2010: Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships |
In a tough day of hard paddling in one of the largest dragon boat events in the world – attracting a total of 200 teams, including some of Hong Kong’s best – the Liechtenstein Princely Navy achieved its best result ever, coming third in the elite Men’s A Division.
Every year Stanley seems to attract an ever larger field of weird and wonderful teams, many competing for fun and attending more for the beer than for the glory. That’s of course how the Liechtenstein Princely Navy also started off in 2000 but, having tasted the sweet sensation of success over the years, our ambition, drive and determination has grown considerably.
That doesn’t mean that we have given up on the beer intake – however, we do hold back until after the final race is over. In fact, to further enhance our chances of success the Admiralty had imposed an alcohol embargo on all crew for over a week prior to the race. The thought of our Foster’s sponsored supply of twelve cases of fuel (=288 cans), nicely chilled and awaiting our return from the finals was to provide that extra bit of motivation needed on our path to glory.
Of the 200 teams, 18 were enlisted in the elite men’s A division. The format of the day would see us race in a field of nine A teams in two heats, earning points for position. The eight teams with the highest points score would advance into the top final, while the other ten would battle it out in a minor final. Our first goal, therefore, was to make it into the big final.
For our first heat we were lined up against last year’s champions, Jeb Fellas, and other strong contenders such as SMUGs, Fair Dinkum and the HK Sea School Old Boys Association. For the first time in the event’s history we would be racing in new fiberglass boats – instead of the heavy old wooden pigs – calling for a change in race strategy in favor of longer, deeper strokes to keep these lighter boats flying faster. Our start, however, would remain as powerful and furious as ever.
As always, therefore, we had room to improve, particularly at the start.
Our second heat put us again together with the Jeb Fellas as well as Stormies, the Sea School and also Goldman Sachs, the only other bank-sponsored team in the A Cup, which frankly however was not even considered a remote threat to the Navy. Looking for an improvement from the first heat, we were obviously going to be more aggressive at the start.
With the first part of our mission accomplished, we retired to our junk to load up on carbs in the form of risotto and ham, expertly provided by Chief Galley Officer Stefan. After lunch, the Admiral presented the as always highly anticipated Awards and Promotions for 2010.
Thanks to the combination of good sea conditions and the inclusion of fiberglass boats for the races meant that for the first time in many years, the Stanley race was actually running on schedule. In fact, it was running slightly ahead of schedule as we had found out earlier when Liechtenstein was called to urgently load their boat for heat 2 as everyone else had already departed the beach.
Back on the water at 1700hrs for the final race of the day, we were now in formidable company. Only the best of the best make it into the top final. Jeb Fellas were there, having won both of their heats as indeed did the Tai Tam Tigers. Stormies, Fair Dinkum, SMUGs, Royal X Men and the HK Sea School completed the field.
As we maneuvered our craft into the starting slot, we looked down the familiar course to the beach, took a few deep breaths and loosened our muscles before turning our concentration and attention 100% onto CFO Fred. Chief Racing Officer Charlie – freshly promoted from Lieutenant to Lieutenant Commander – as always read conditions (and competitors) perfectly. His advice to CFO Fred was simple: focus on the top teams – as soon as they go, we go!
Our Sailors have been well trained not to focus on any other boat than ours and thus it was hard to say where we were in relation to the other teams. But as we crossed the line and swung our heads around we only saw two other boats, with the Tigers clearly ahead and Fair Dinkum either second or third.
Although the result is clearly the best ever in the Navy’s eleven year history, it left us with somewhat mixed feelings. On one hand, the collision made the Tiger’s victory (and our podium finish) feel somewhat hollow. Having expected to fight it out with the Jeb Fellas, there was a slight feeling of disappointment of having been beaten by the Tigers and Fair Dinkum (who beat us to second place by 0.6 of a second), teams that we have beaten on numerous lesser occasions. However, the Tigers had earned their victory with a convincing first place performance in both heats (albeit never against the Jeb Fellas).
And finally, as our wise man Charlie always says – anything can happen in a final! And it often does!
Long Live Liechtenstein!!!
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